A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

96

January 2020

AQU Catalunya has reached a new international milestone in including the gender perspective in its procedures involving the quality assurance of higher education programmes of study, including the Arts.

Following the adoption of the General framework for gender equality in higher education teaching, the Agency has updated the assessment guides to take account of this dimension, which for the very first time will be included in all programme and institutional reviews at higher education institutions in Catalonia.

This innovation is to be presented by Eva Benito, secretary of the working group that has developed the general framework for gender equality, at the upcoming European quality assurance congress organised by the European Quality Assurance Forum with the paper “Engendering quality assurance processes: a matter of (e)-quality”. Benito believes that “the breakthrough set out in these guide books represents a transformation of the conceptual framework of quality assurance and assessment and is aligned to the Government of Catalonia's Strategic Plan for gender equality policies for the period from 2019-2022 and its Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, so that all barriers maintaining gender equality are eliminated in all QA procedures involving programmes of study”.

Programme managers and coordinators will gradually, and according to the timetable approved by the vice-rectors responsible for quality assurance, need to diagnose the situation as far as this dimension is concerned and, subsequently, address the evidence and indicators proposed in the guidebooks, regarding aspects such as:

• The incorporation of gender competence in degree courses
• The access to courses (differences and/or inequalities according to gender)
• The assignment of teachers between different subjects and courses
• The policy for recruitment, promotion and training of both support staff members (administration and services) and teaching and research staff
• The use of gender-inclusive language and imagery

The director of AQU Catalunya, Martí Casadesús, highly values this new breakthrough in that it highlights the Agency's involvement in responding to this social demand within its sphere of activities. Casadesús is confident that the progressive approach to gender impact assessment proposed by the Agency will be welcomed by programme managers and coordinators and will help to formalise and structure many of the activities of this nature currently being undertaken by HEIs.

Link to the assessment guidebooks:

 Guide to the accreditation of recognised bachelor's and master's degree programmes

 Guide to the assessment of additional dimensions in the accreditation of recognised bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes

 Guide to the accreditation of recognised PhD programmes

 Guide to the formulation and validation of proposals for recognised Bachelor and Master's degree programmes [catalan]

 Guide to the formulation and validation of proposals for recognised doctorate programmes [catalan]

 Guide to the monitoring of recognised bachelor's and master's degree programmes [catalan]

 Guide to the monitoring of recognised PhD programmes [catalan]

 Guide to the Certification of IQAs Implementation